The potential of studying specific language impairment in bilinguals for linguistic research on specific language impairment in monolinguals

Abstract

In her Keynote Article, Paradis discusses the role of the interface between bilingual development and specific language impairment (SLI) on two different levels. On the level of theoretical explanations of SLI, Paradis asks how domain general versus domain-specific perspectives on SLI can account for bilingual SLI, as well as what bilingual SLI may contribute to the discussion of these theories. Paradis argues in favor of domain-specific deficits (in addition to well-documented processing deficits in SLI), and especially for the maturational model (Rice, 2004). She argues against a mere processing deficit of input information and against deficits in working memory and processing speed as sole sources of SLI. On the practical level, Paradis focuses on the question of whether and how language tests that have been standardized for monolingual children are valid for the assessment of SLI in bilingual children. Both discussions, on theory and on practice, are based on empirical data from Canadian studies on bilingual children with and without SLI carried out by Johanne Paradis, Martha Crago, and Fred Genesee (e.g., Crago & Paradis, 2003; Paradis, 2007; Paradis, Crago, & Genesee, & Rice, 2003).